Encouragements By His Word Series

Introducing

This Series began from a conversation with my Grandmother about not being fearful and afraid of things, with a side story of a tidbit of information about the words “fear not” which being talked about in her Sunday School class one Sunday. She expressed the desire to study out how many times the phrases or equivalents to “fear not” or “be not afraid” in one shape or another appears in the Bible. Anyone that knows me knows… this had already begun to stir my thinking cap.

A young lady of one of the members of her class took our her “new-fangled” smartphone, doing a search for how many times it appeared with a result of 365 times. My Grandmother thought out loud about how neat it was that there would be one for each day of the year! What a nifty thought that presented, but I’d read the Bible through a couple of times – that combination didn’t strike me as plausible because of the vast amount of times memory could recall it being used.

First Find

The first pure find of the word combinations “Fear Not” and “Be Not Afraid” are the two following verses:

After these things the word of the LORD came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not , Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward.Genesis 15:1 | King James Version

– and –

With him will I speak mouth to mouth, even apparently, and not in dark speeches; and the similitude of the Lord shall he behold: wherefore then were ye not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?Numbers 12:8 | King James Version

If we restricted the word search of “fear not” and “be not afraid” to exact phrases – the limitations are impossible to ignore, 62 matches for KJV (Fear Not) and 26 matches for KJV (Be Not Afraid), for a total of 88 matches. Loosen up a bit, searching for all the words and partial matches, garners us 175 matches for Fear Not and 68 matches for Be Not Afraid, still totaling only 263 matches.

For more on the research across three translations: King James Version (KJV), New International Version (NIV) & Revised Standard Version (RSV), click on the Research link. REMEMBER, the information is provided as an analytical research point, it does NOT change my stand on which Who’s Word I stand on and exclusively use. The purpose of the research was to see if the “365” uses would show to be true in other “translations” that could have been used to support the statement.

In the Bible study that the research sparked, there were twenty verses of Scripture that stood out to me as each and every one of them was being read and cross referenced. It has been EXCITING to find the “Ribbon” not only through the Bible of each statement, but how God chose in His Infinite Wisdom to allow them to inter-weave each other like a zipper throughout. In the most simple form of looking for the theme, 47 of 66 books carry the ribbon throughout, roughly 71% overall. A much more in depth study is showing something even more amazing, a continued theme from cover to cover of protection and relationship with the Creator – an AMAZING discovery indeed…

Fear Not, Be Not Afraid | Statements

01 | I Am With Thee

02 | Have Courage

03 | Have Commanded

04 | Will Praise

05 | Have Trust

06 | Will Not Fear

07 | Abide Satisfied

08 | Know Whatsoever

09 | Have Strength

10 | My Servant

11 | Be Witnesses

12 | Unto Me Hearken

13 | Were Heard

14 | Only Believe

15 | For Behold

16 | He Answered

17 | Of More Value

18 | Have Peace With

19 | Receive Adoption

20 | Boldly Say My Helper

May we be reminded that we have nothing to fear from man and that we do not have to be afraid as a Child of the King!